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Author Topic: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!  (Read 1608 times)

Qloos

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Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« on: September 30, 2008, 03:33:13 pm »

When a wildfire recently happened over one of my forts I realized that the fire avoided the stockpiles.  Couldn't I then create blank stockpiles around the start of a wildfire to snuff it out?  I have no idea whether to stick this in the bug reports forum, the questions forum or here. . . so here it is.
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Greymane

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2008, 03:41:22 pm »

Are you sure the fires were actually avoiding/being stopped by the stockpiles and not just continuing to burn out of sight under them? Stockpiles can obscure details in the landscape, like grass, tree saplings, boulders, and such, but those things are all still there when you take the stockpile away. It could be that the fire was still running over the terrain the stockpiles were on, but that you couldn't actually see it.
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Duke 2.0

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2008, 03:42:25 pm »

 Indeed, stockpiles have some odd abilities. They make good roads, you cannot channel them out, and they perfectly preserve the plants underneath.
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Qloos

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2008, 03:47:45 pm »

Are you sure the fires were actually avoiding/being stopped by the stockpiles and not just continuing to burn out of sight under them? Stockpiles can obscure details in the landscape, like grass, tree saplings, boulders, and such, but those things are all still there when you take the stockpile away. It could be that the fire was still running over the terrain the stockpiles were on, but that you couldn't actually see it.

I removed the stockpile once the fire was gone, wherever a barrel used to be is burned underneath but anywhere the stockpile was blank and unoccupied it is fresh and clear beneath.
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Greymane

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2008, 03:57:47 pm »

I removed the stockpile once the fire was gone, wherever a barrel used to be is burned underneath but anywhere the stockpile was blank and unoccupied it is fresh and clear beneath.

Huh, that's pretty cool then, in an exploit-y kind of way. Probably not at all intentional though. Even if it turns out you can't put out a fire by dropping a stockpile on top of it, you could still easily contain and/or direct the path of one by creating stockpile 'lanes' that permit nothing to be placed on them.

You should very much make a bug report on that.
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Romantic Warrior

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2008, 11:03:16 pm »

This doesn't work in my game. I placed an animal stockpile(just so my dwarves would be tempted to use it) in the path of an incoming fire. I tried it one layer deep, surrounding, and the fire went right through it. I tried a massive one that surrounded the fire. It just burned right through it.
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JoRo

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #6 on: October 01, 2008, 12:08:34 am »

But is the ground beneath the stockpile burned?
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Romantic Warrior

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2008, 01:37:33 am »

But is the ground beneath the stockpile burned?


Yes. The ground beneath was burned when I removed the stockpiles and it failed to stop the fire. I am using 40d.
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Earthquake Damage

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2008, 06:24:07 am »

Even if stockpiles work, I would rather use a line of constructed floor as a fire stop (firewall?).  While the stockpile method (bug) will eventually be fixed, stone will never burn (unless Toady accidentally creates a new and exciting bug).
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nirodragon

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2008, 02:11:32 pm »

Even if stockpiles work, I would rather use a line of constructed floor as a fire stop (firewall?).  While the stockpile method (bug) will eventually be fixed, stone will never burn (unless Toady accidentally creates a new and exciting bug).

You'd not want to build that wall out of bituminous coal, though.  I don't know if constructed coal walls burn, but they will eventually, I'd guess.  And wooden walls.  They'll eventually be burnable.

That'll be fun.  Build a wooden labyrinth for enemies to travel through to get inside your fortress, seal them inside, and light it up.
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Astus Ater

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2008, 02:22:11 pm »

Um, actually, walls, no matter what they are made of, will not burn. Too bad, huh?
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nirodragon

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2008, 02:24:13 pm »

Heh, good to know they don't now.  As for the labyrinth, though, I was thinking about a future version of DF, since making wooden walls burnable seems like a sensible improvement to the game in some later version.
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Haven

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Re: Stopping a wildfire. . . with my mind!
« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2008, 12:54:14 am »

Adventure mode would be nice if you could burn and pillage, instead of just pillage.

But yeah... I've never seen any of the wonderful powers ascribed to sotckpiles, myself.
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